Saturday, March 25, 2017

Scandal around Akie Abe, the Prime Minister's wife

Akie Abe, the wife of Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, is suspected to have been involved in a tricky discount in selling a public land to an educational corporation.

Moritomo Gakuen was planned to be established as a primary school belonging to an educational corporation.

The kindergarten operator testified to parliament that the first lady, Akie Abe, gave him an envelope containing 1m yen (£7,100) and said it was from Shinzo Abe. The government denies the claims.

Moritomo Gakuen group was planning to build a new elementary school in Osaka. Yasunori Kagoike, the president of the group, claims that Akie Abe was involved in the approval of the planning. He also stated that Akie had given him a million JPY as a secret donation. Akie denied his claim.

The land on which the new elementary school would be built was sold from the government to the corporation for very low cost. The official said that it was because many wastes were buried in the land. But, there are unclear things around the contract of transferring the land.

Yasunori Kagoike was summoned to the Parliament to reply the questions of lawmakers. However, the gap of the speech between Kagoike and the Prime Minister's wife became widened. Opposing parties are keen to pursue the issue, because Shinzo Abe declared that if he were arbitrarily involved in the scandal, he would abandon the seat of the PM.

To be honest, I am indifferent to the fact about this scandal. It is not illegal for a politician to make a donation outside of his constituency. Cheating in selling public lands is, of course, problematic. But I do not think it is so critical.

Akie Abe is an active woman. She is not always on the side of Shinzo Abe, but she behaves based on her own opinion. In this sense, I admire her policy.

However, I do not like her ideology as a nationalist. It is true that Akie is inclined in the policy of Moritomo Gakuen. In the kindergarten administered by Moritomo, children are encouraged to admire Shinzo Abe. According to the media reports, even hate speeches against Korean people are heard in the kindergarten. If true, they are not education but brainwash.

Although the liberty of thoughts should be accepted, I am shameful that the wife of the Prime Minister approves such a nationalistic education. In this sense, I dislike Akie Abe.